International Military Tribunal for the Far East

Historical Note

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) was established by a special proclamation of General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) on January 19, 1946. MacArthur thus implemented the Potsdam Declaration of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom (July 26, 1945), as accepted by the Japanese signatories of the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, that war criminals would be brought to justice. SCAP had been given the authority to issue all orders implementing the Japanese surrender terms by a declaration of the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR, issued from Moscow on December 27, 1945.

IMTFE was constituted of eleven judges, appointed by SCAP, representative in nationality of the Allied signatories of the Instrument of Surrender, and of India and the Philippines. From April 29, 1946, to January 12, 1948, IMTFE heard cases against twenty-eight defendants. From November 4 to 12, 1948, it rendered judgments against twenty-five defendants (two having died during the trial and one having been deemed incompetent to stand trial). Seven defendants were sentenced to death, sixteen to life imprisonment, one to twenty years' imprisonment, and one to seven years' imprisonment.

From the guide to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East records, 1946-1948, (Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace)

In 1946, General Douglas Mac Arthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Japan, approved the Tokyo Charter, first introduced in the Potsdam Declaration. This charter announced the intention to prosecute Japanese officials for war crimes committed during World War II. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East was created to carry out this task, and was comprised of eleven justices representing various Allied nations (USA, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, India, and the Philippines). American Joseph B. Keenan served as Chief Prosecutor. Australian Sir William F. Webb presided as President of the tribunal. The trial commenced in May, 1946 and convened until 1948, generating nearly 50,000 pages of transcripts.

In all, 28 individuals from Japan (mostly military or political leaders) were indicated. Among these leaders were former prime ministers, former foreign ministers, former commanders-in-chief, politicians. Of the 25 individuals ultimately tried (two died during the trial and one was declared mentally unfit to stand trial), seven defendants were condemned to death by hanging (five generals and two former prime ministers), sixteen defendants received sentences of life imprisonment, one received a seven-year prison sentence, and one received a sentence of twenty-five years in prison.

The trial was not widely publicized and was always shadowed by its counterpart in Nuremberg, but by those who were aware of its details, it was highly criticized. In spite of the international composition of the jury, the Anglo-Saxon system of law dominated and was often at odds with the cultural system of those on trial as well as of some of the justices. The United States' wartime atrocities were not admitted into the court's deliberations. Furthermore, death sentences were given to some defendants with just barely over a 50% vote on the part of the justices. Dissenting votes (from representatives of the Netherlands, France, and India) were not explained in court.

It is widely considered that this early experiment in international law was wrought with problems. The defendant ultimately determined unfit to stand trial due to his mental state held perhaps the most insightful view of the trial. He suggested that rather than marking the end of the war, the Tokyo war crimes trial was merely an extension of war carried out in a courtroom in which the victors judged the vanquished.

From the guide to the Japanese War Crime Tribunal Documents, 1946-1948, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)